Warning! This Starbucks coffee that you’re really, really enjoying may cause cancer. Drink at your own risk.That’s right, a California judge on Wednesday ruled that coffee companies, like Starbucks, must place a cancer warning on java sold in the state because of a chemical produced in the roasting process.Cue collective panic.Could these warning labels, similar to those seen on cigarette packs, one day find themselves on coffee cups in New Jersey?
Coffee causes cancer now? We can't have nothing! pic.twitter.com/nPJh8gRu2X
-- N. (@rootsgyalmagic) March 30, 2018
The suit, which had been brewing for years, was brought under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, which was passed in California in 1986. The law “protects the state's drinking water sources from being contaminated with chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and requires businesses to inform Californians about exposures to such chemicals.”The suit calls for fines of up to $2,500 per person for every exposure to the chemical since 2002.
Coffee causes cancer, so I guess its straight Baileys in the morning from now on.
-- P S (@TheRealPZA) March 31, 2018
A toxic brew?
The lawsuit was filed in 2010 by the Council for Education and Research on Toxics — a tiny, California-based, not-for-profit organization — against Starbucks and 90 other companies, citing the California law, which requires warning labels on certain potentially cancer-causing chemicals. The chemical produced in the coffee-brewing process, acrylamide, is a probable carcinogen.Scientists note that no link has been found between the chemical found in trace amounts in coffee and cancer in humans.Regardless, it's a frustrating revelation for coffee addicts who would prefer to drink their joe without having to worry if it's giving them cancer.
Me: I don't understand why people keep smoking cigarettes when they know the health risks.
-- Soldier Jane (@sgtjanedoe) March 30, 2018
Internet: Coffee might cause cancer!
Me: I guess I'm getting cancer.
There is still some debate on the extent of the danger and how much a person needs to consume to have their health impacted. But, according to the FDA, acrylamide has been found to cause cancer in animals “at very high doses.”And the chemical isn’t just in coffee. Of course it's in everything we love to feast on like starchy foods, including french fries, potato chips and even toast. It’s also in cigarette smoke, according to the American Cancer Society’s website.The chemical is formed when certain foods are cooked at high temperatures, causing a “reaction between certain sugars and an amino acid in the food, which forms acrylamide,” according to the American Cancer Society.
Kaynak:Nj.com